Cheap College Text-Books.

by **Liv** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 8:13 pm

So I was sitting in French class talking to an acquaintance when I decided to impress my classmate with my French book. Cost $11. I asked "How much was yours?" She goes $150. She counters "I buy all my text books new." Why, I'm wondering? I mean when I was 18 and didn't have a concept of money or what things are worth... I bought new too. But being I'm a stingy old-schooler now, I go the cheap route. More to the point, with news reports of college students turning to food-stamps, and many people just scrounging up enough for their text-books, why would anyone in college pay more if they didn't have to? I mean, the college book-store has the market cornered. They (GTCC) deliberately repackages text-books with their own ISBNs so you can't turn to the Internet to order your college texts. Worse is the greedy authors who are professors somewhere at UCLA writing a new edition every year just to make more bank. I've written a book. They don't cost $150. While they may be bigger and contain more information, they're also mass produced, often compilations of many previous versions. No where else in life do you spend that much money on books... (unless you're the government) ...books you'll use for 16 weeks then return, burn, or use to hold up your bed.

Step 1: Get the ISBNs.

Step 2: Hunt.

The rule at college is: 98% of the time if the book includes a CD/DVD etc. you probably won't need it in class. My sister who is also in college confirmed this.

That's when I turned international and found it on Amazon.co.uk.

But also look for some really damaged stuff too.

So that's it. Cheap college text books. Overall I believe I saved several hundreds of dollars. When books cost more than tuition one must really question if college serves to educate or perpetuate capitalism. This is a great way to fight the power and still juice the mind.

-

by **A Person** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:11 am

Never ever buy a book on a reading list until you've spoken to the professor. Most will be realistic whether the book is really necessary to buy. I've never bought all the books on the list.

by **Jamy** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 9:16 am

I used to buy all my college textbooks from half.com and noticed that Edward McKay's sells used text books too. Even though they are always coming out with new editions, I've found that the changes are usually insignificant and older editions will serve just as well.

by **Liv** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 9:31 am

A Person wrote:Never ever buy a book on a reading list until you've spoken to the professor. Most will be realistic whether the book is really necessary to buy. I've never bought all the books on the list.

Good point. We haven't even cracked several of the books yet and I'm beginning to question if in all the classes we will even be using them. I've been hauling them around for a week. (back breaking) Though the classroom is mostly lecture anyhow.

by **Serendipitous** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 11:43 am

Who goes to "Cheap College"??? ~buh-dum-bah-CHING~

:lol:

Anywhoooooo, I bought new books ONLY if I knew it was something I was going to keep after the course completed or if I was unable to get a used copy. It also helped to "pool" books with roommates or friends if you happened to be taking the same course, same professor but different semesters.

Of course, back then the options for purchasing books were pretty limited compared to the present. Gotta love online shopping.

by **Liv** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:27 pm

The biggest difference I`ve noticed is that book manufacturers have done their best to thwart off that sort of behavior. For instance my math book was "custom" produced for gtcc. Not available anywhere else- though I`m doubtful it`s marginally different. The professor said it was required. Also required was mymathlab which is nothing but a 1-semester valid code to access the book`s online system. I`m sure it makes grading a breeze but doing math on the computer when you`re use to the old way seems like twice the work.

by **BecauseHeLives** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 2:23 am

Good job Liv.

by **BecauseHeLives** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 2:25 am

A Person wrote:Never ever buy a book on a reading list until you've spoken to the professor. Most will be realistic whether the book is really necessary to buy. I've never bought all the books on the list.

I remember that happening to me many years ago when I was in school. I was required to purchase three separate books for a particular class. However, at the end of the semester I found we never once touched two of the other books.

I demanded my money back. Didn't get it. Lesson learned. Schools make big bucks from their bookstores and shady practices common place. Beware.

by **Liv** » Sat Aug 21, 2010 6:13 pm

BecauseHeLives wrote: Lesson learned. Schools make big bucks from their bookstores and shady practices common place. Beware.

Amen to that.

by **Questioner** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:06 pm

Nobody here mentioned my favorite site for getting books really cheap.

http://www.dealoz.com

The site searches hundreds of online book selling sites (including half.com, ebay, and Amazon.com, plus literally hundreds more) searching for all listings of the book you are looking for. I find about half my books cheaper there than on Amazon marketplace. But I must say Amazon marketplace is amazing.

Of course there are tricks in searching for cheaper text books.

First, it is a good idea to have the ISBN number. That is the most efficient way to search, but you can put in the book title. Many texts have a different ISBN for the non-USA version, which is exactly the same from the inside front to back, but has a different cover and ISBN number. I saved literally thousands of dollars buying the international version of my sons' engineering texts. Same quality paper, same page numbers, same graphs and photos--in color if U.S. version is in color, etc. You are more likely to find the international versions from the book title than ISBN number. BUT! (And this is a big "but"), be sure you get the same edition. Edition 1 is not going to be the same as edition 10.

Good hunting.

by **Liv** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:15 pm

Deal Oz is cool, though I did find on several occasions that once you actually got to where the checkout is the price was different.

I also found to be careful on ebay, as several people were listing the 8th edition for sale using the 9th edition ISBN, only noting it later down below. The truth is be careful no matter what... because college students if not careful are easy prey... but done smartly you can outwit this capitalistic nightmare of our education system.

by **Questioner** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:26 pm

Liv wrote:Deal Oz is cool, though I did find on several occasions that once you actually got to where the checkout is the price was different.

I also found to be careful on ebay, as several people were listing the 8th edition for sale using the 9th edition ISBN, only noting it later down below. The truth is be careful no matter what... because college students if not careful are easy prey... but done smartly you can outwit this capitalistic nightmare of our education system.

YUP!!!! What she said!

by **Liv** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 4:58 pm

So Deal Oz worked wonders for me this time.

Most all my books, minus a few, ultimately ended up coming from HALF.COM, where they have a 12% off coupon for new users. I've got one package left to buy, but it's already insanely expensive. For a moment I really liked the idea of buying a Kindle and getting e-books, then I realized I'd make more by selling back the books. Though I did check some of the fledgling pirate textbook sites for my books, but found none- I have hopes for the system in the future.

Is it really necessary to have 10 books for 3 classes? The education system is out of control in America.